Curling iron



Jan. 21, 1930. JACOBS 1,744,386

' CURLING IRON Filed Nov. 1

gwvent z Patented Jan. 21, 1930 v 1 r UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH H. JACOBS, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK GURLING IRON Application filed November 5, 1928. Serial No. 317,304.

This invention relates to improvements in boiling point, it is obvious that by this simple curhng devices and has reference more parexpedient of employing steam for the purticularly to an improvement in curling irons pose of heating the curling irons that the lator tongs of the type employed by hair dresster may be maintained at a substantially uniers in curling and marcelling hair. form temperature during the entire curling It is customary for hair dressers in beauty operation and as the temperature cannot inparlors to employ curling and marcelling crease above that of the steam which is being irons which are heated either electrically by employed, it is evident that there is no danger means of a resistance coil embedded in the of increasing the temperature to such an ex- 1O curling iron, by gas or by inserting the iron tent that damage will be done to the hair.

in a small electric oven provided for this Having thus briefly described this invenpurpose. Where the iron is electrically heattion, the same will now be described in detail ed, there is grave danger of having the iron and reference for this purpose will be had to become too hot, thereby injuring the hair and the accompanying drawing in which the pre this frequently occurs owing to the difficulty ferred embodiment has been illustrated, and of determining the temperature of theiron ill which: during the operation. Where the iron is ig. l is a perspective View O y i111- heated in a gas flame or in an electric oven, proved curling iron showing the same at the operator is in position to judge of the apcached to a steam boiler; proximate temperature of the iron before it Fig- 2 is a Section taken 011 line 2-2, Fig 3; is applied to the hair, but as no heat is im g. 3 is a section taken on line 33,Fig. 2; parted to the iron during the operation, it g-dis a Section taken on line 4Ll-, Fly. 3; soon cools oil and this makes it necessary to g 5 is a Section through the connector by h t; it t f t i t l whi h Heme means of which the flexible tubes are attached sitateg either the use of several irons 01* the t0 the steam boiler and Shows the safety Cl6- w t a sid abl am t f ti vice which prevents the escape of steam in It is the object of this invention to produ case there shou d be a lealr in the connecting a curling iron of such construction that it tubes; and can be maintained at an absolutely uniform Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a marcelling 39 and predetermined temperature during the iron showing both jaws provided with heatoperation and which, therefore, can be heated me ts. to such a temperature that there is no danger In the drawing reference numeral 1 repreof burning the hair, and which, at the same G 'ES a Steam boiler, or any reservoir or pipe time, is the most desirable temperature for the containing steam under pressure, and referparticular operation. ence numeral 2 indicates the curling iron or This invention briefly described comprises tong as a whole, while 3 indicates the flexible a curling iron tong which preferably consists conduits by means of which steam is conof two jaw members hingedly connected so ducted from the boiler to the curling iron and that they can be moved towards and away through which it returns to the exhaust from each other, and which are acted on by pipe t. 9 a spring which tends to move the aw mem- The curllng iron whlch has been illustrated bers together so thatthey will clamp themfor the purpose of explaining this invention selves onto the lock of hair that is to be and which is intended to illustrate a typical curled or marcelled. These jaw members are construction, consists of a cylindrical tubular hollow and are connected with each other and member 5, one end. of which is closed as in- 5 with asource of steam under pressure in such dicated at 6, the other end being open and a manner that a flow of live steam can bev preferably crimped so as to have a somewhat maintained during the time that the curling smaller diameter in the manner indicated at tong is in operation. As it is possible to main- 7 The partition 8 extends across the interior tain steam at any desired pressure above the of tubular member 5 near its open end and 10 able good heat insulating material is secured to the open end of member This handle is preferably provided with a ferrule 13 and is also provided 011 one side with a notch M for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. Member 5 is provided with two outwardly extending tubular members 15 and 16, one of which is. located on each side of the partition 8 in the manner shown in Fig. 2. The other jaw member has been indicated by reference numeral 17 and is attached to member 5 by means of a ring 18 that has its ends bent radially outward in the manner indicated at 19 and these ends are perforated for the reception of a pivot pin 20. Member 17 has a U-shaped cross section and the sides 21 are perforated for the reception of the pivot pin 20, which serves as the hinge pin about which jaw member 17 turns. A sprlng 22 has a coiled portion surrounding the pin and has one end engaging the undersurface of the handle 23 and the other end engaging in the notch 14. This spring is tensioned so as to normally hold the parts in the position shown in Fig. 3. Jaw member 17 has a straight portion of U-shaped cross section that is hollow and is provided with a partition member 24 that extends from the end 25 of the hollow member to a point 26 near the other end thereof, thereby dividing the interior into a double passage as shown in Fig. 2. Projecting outwardly from the sides of the straight portion are short tubular members 27 to which the rubber tubes 28 are attached. The other ends of these rubber tubes are connected to the tubular members 15 and. 16 as shown in Fig. 2. Let us now assume that steam is admitted through the tubular member 9 and discharged near the closed end of this member. The steam will flow rearwardly in the annular space between the outer surface of member 9 and the inner surface of tubular member 5 and will pass outwardly through the opening in member 15 and will pass from thence by way of the rubber tube 28 into one end of. the passage in jaw mem ber 17. and will flow past the end of partition. 24 and thence in the opposite direction and through the other tube 28 that is attached to member 16 from which it will be dis charged into the annular space between tuba-- lar member 9 and tubular member 5 and will flow in the space between tubes 10 and 11 until it reaches the exhaust tube 4.

It will be seen from this that when steam is admitted through tube 10 in the manner explained, that it will circulate through the passages in both the jaw members and will naturally heat these members to the temperature of the steam.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated the connector by means of which tubes 10 and 11 are connected with the boiler 1. This connector comprises a valve or stop cock having a body portion 29, which is provided with an axial opening 30 across which a plug 31 extends. This plug has a handle 32 and is acted upon by a. spring 33, which holds it in proper adj usted position. A union 34 has one member provided with two concentric tubular extensions 35 and 36. Tube 36 is in communication with the space 37 in the inside of the union, but the annular space betw n this tube and the inside of the tube is arated from the interior of the union by means of a partition 38. A tubular member 39 is in com munication with the annular space and it is to this tubular member that the exhaust tube 4 is attached. A connector 4:0 extends from the union {A to the threaded end 11 of the valve. It will be seen from Fig. 5 that connector 40 has a conical opening which has been indicated by reference numeral 12 and within which the ball 43 is located. This ball normally occupies the position shown in Fig. 5, but in case of a break in tube 10 or in any other part of the conduit through which the steam passes the increased rush of steam moves the ball 43 against the opening in the end of the union and prevents the further escape of steam, and in this manner it serves as a safety device for automatically cutting off the steam in case of a break.

In order to protect the person operated on from being burned by the hot metal members of the curling iron, I have provided jaw member 5 with a protector 44. which forms the subject matter of U. S. Letters hitent No. 1,691,115, dated November 13. This protector has a rectangular cross section like that shown in Fig. 4: and is provided at its inner end with a lateral lug 45 that has a circular recess 4:6 that fits against the outer surface of member 5. The other on d of the protector has a conical end portion provided with a recess 47 that is adapted to receive the pointed end of member 5. A spring 48 connects the protector to the band 18. Since the protector may rotate about the axis of member 5, it permits this moven'ient while still protecting the wearer from contact with the heated part. The sharpened ends of the protectors are provided with notches 49, Fig. 2. which enable them to be grasped for the pur pose of removing them from the curling iron.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a mar-(telling iron having two tubular cylindrical members similar to that indicated by numeral 5 in Fig. 3

and which are each provided with an electric heating element 50. The other movable jaw is formed from a piece of sheet metal curved longitudinally so as to have a substantially Mshaped cross section. An electric heating element 51 is located in the central depression and serves to heat all parts of this jaw member. Heat insulating members 52 are secured to the edges of the jaw member 53 and serve to protect the person operated on from being burned by the heated members. These heating elements are connected in parallel and are supplied with cur rent by means of conductors 54. The embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 6 is intended to illustrate an electrically heated iron that corresponds in some particulars to the steam heated iron described above and which has both of the jaw members provided with heat during the operation, as distinguished from the usual construction in which only one of the jaw members are provided with heating means.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a curling device that is heated by means of steam and which can therefore be maintained at any desired temperature below the temperature at which injury is caused to the hair and which therefore removes the objection which is present when irons are heated to various temperatures without having any means of determining the exact temperature. It is evident that an iron constructed in the manner described and heated by means of steam can be continuously used and it is therefore unnecessary to have a large number of irons as is the case when they are heated by means of gas or in an elec' t-ric oven. I also want to call attention to the construction by means of which heat is applied to both sides of the hair, as this gives the more uniform result than is usually ob tained by means of an iron in which one of the jaw members only is provided with a heating means.

Attention is also directed to the concentric relation of tubes 10 and 11, as this gives a very neat appearance and the exhaust steam that passes outwardly in the annular space between these tubes serves as a heat insulator which prevents the steam in conduit 10 from condensing and which maintains the tcn'iperature of this steam as high as possible until it reaches the interior of the jaws that are to be heated.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

1. An apparatus for curling hair comprising a curling tongs having two hollow jaw members mounted for movement towards and away from each other and means for circulating steam through said members in series.

2. A curling iron tongs comprising two relatively movable jaw members, means for moving the members towards and away from each other, each of said members being provided with a double passage through which steam may flow, flexible means for connecting the passages in series and means for con necting one end of one of said passages to a source of steam under pressure.

3. A curling iron tongs comprising two relatively movable jaw members, means for moving the members towards and away from each other, each of said members being provided with a passage through which steam may flow, means for connecting the passages in the two members in series, means for con necting one end of one of said passages to a source of steam under pressure and means attached to the end of the other passage for conducting the steam away from the curling iron.

41. A curling iron comprising two hingec jaw members, one of which is substantially cylindrical and the other of? which has a concavo convex cross section, means comprising a spring for moving the jaw members towards each other, the cylindrical jaw member being hollow and closed at one end, a tube located within the cylindrical member and terminating adjacent the closed end thereof, a steam tight partition extending across the interior of the cylindrical member adjacent the open end thereof, the tube extending on both sides of the partition, a flexible conduit having one end connected with the other end of the tube and the other end connected with a source of steam under pressure, a flexible conduit of larger diameter surrounding the first mentioned flexible conduit and having one end attached to the open end of the cylindrical member, the other jaw member having two parallel )assages extending longitudinally thereof and connected with each other near the tip of the jaw member, means for connecting one end of the double passage with the interior of the cylindrical member on one side of the partition and means for connecting the other end with the interior of the cylindrical member on the other side of the partition.

5. A device for curling hair comprising, in combination, a source of steam supply, a curling iron tongs having relatively movable jaws provided with passages for steam, a flexible conduit extending from the steam supply to the tongs and an automatic check valve in said conduit, said check valve closing in the direction of flow of the steam towards the curler.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOSEPH H. moons. 

